Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Court to Catwalk: Serena Williams Takes on NYFW

We all know she dominates on the tennis court, but this year, professional tennis player Serena Williams took her talents to the runways of New York Fashion Week to debut the first spring season of her clothing line. After suffering from a shocking loss to Roberta Vinci in the U.S. Open semifinals, Williams turned to another industry she has become very familiar with over the years, the fashion industry.

Forever a Fashion Lover

Fashion is not necessarily something that comes to mind when we think sports, but the two go hand in hand for professional athletes, and Serena Williams is no exception. The tennis star has been known to always have had an appreciation for the industry, having taken fashion courses in the past, to wearing the biggest names in fashion on red carpets and on the covers of magazines. Williams was extremely proud of the line, as she should be.

Serena’s Success

Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue, was Serena’s mentor on the project and helped her with the collection. Any advice from Wintour is good advice indeed! The collection was for HSN, the Home Shopping Network, and featured a lot of leather, suede, and fringe, three things that have been up and coming on the fashion forecasting radar for quite some time. Williams really hit the nail on the head with this one, not straying away from her roots in athletics, seeing as each piece was very wearable, suitable for women on the go such as herself. This goes to show that the tennis star has many talents, and it is safe to say that we will be seeing much more from the athlete in the fashion world when she’s not on the court of course.

Laura Watkins is a senior liberal studies major at Middle Tennessee State University.